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NCAA Women’s Championships: Virginia Goes Seven Up-Four Down, Poised to Extend Lead
Already in the lead by more than 80 points at the NCAA Women’s Championships, the University of Virginia Cavaliers are set to pull away from any other team even further during Friday night’s finals. Virginia entered projected to out-score the competition by more than 50 points during third day of racing, and that looks likely to happen after the Cavaliers picked up 11 individual swims for the evening, seven A-finalists and four B-finalists.
Two Virginia swimmers, Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass, are the top seeds in their respective events as each will be looking for a second title of the meet. Virginia has finished first and/or second in every swimming event so far, but that streak will end three races into the Friday finals as no UVA swimmer qualified for the 200 freestyle A-final, with Reilly Tiltmann finishing ninth and missing the top heat by six hundredths.
But while the quest for a team title seems largely devoid of drama so far, but there are still a lot of team standings to sort out. Texas currently sits second in the team race by a narrow margin over Stanford and Alabama, but the Cardinal made a move Friday morning by finishing six up/two down. Taylor Ruck jumped out from 19th to first in the 200 free prelims, which was not a huge surprise but notable nonetheless, and Regan Smith is in the top spot in the 100 backstroke. Torri Huske is second to Douglass in the 100 fly. The Cardinal’s big morning is likely to move them into a comfortable second place by the end of Friday’s finals.
Texas had five swimmers make it back, all to A-finals, including surprising top seed Anna Elendt in the 100 breast. Three other squads qualified at least three A-finalists: NC State, Tennessee and Kentucky. NC State was not a huge surprise with defending champions Sophie Hansson (100 breast) and Katharine Berkoff (100 back) in their respective best events. Tennessee, meanwhile, bounced back after a rough first two days that saw the Volunteers underperform their psych sheet projections by 51 points, slipping from a projected fourth-place finish to now being projected for sixth. But Ellen Walshe took third in both the 400 IM and 100 fly while Mona Mc Sharry is in contention in the 100 breast?
Kentucky was a bit more of a surprise, but a trio of Wildcats got the job done in the 400 IM with Bailey Bonnett and Lauren Poole getting into the A-final and Gillian Davey taking a spot in the consolation heat, and Riley Gaines will be in the field for the 200 free.
Cal, USC and Northwestern each had two A-finalists, with both of Northwestern’s competitors, Tara Vork and Sophie Angus, making it back in the 100 breaststroke. Meanwhile, Alabama and Ohio State will likely fall in the rankings on day three after being projected for around 70 points each. Both squads qualified only a single championship finalist plus two in the B-heat.
Full Up-Downs for Friday Finals:
- Virginia 7-4
- Stanford 6-2
- Texas 5-0
- NC State 3-2
- Kentucky 3-1
- Tennessee 3-1
- Cal 2-2
- Northwestern 2-0
- USC 2-0
- Alabama 1-2
- Louisville 1-2
- Michigan 1-2
- Ohio State 1-2
- Florida 1-1
- North Carolina 1-2
- Penn 1-0
- Georgia 0-3
- Indiana 0-2
- Virginia Tech 0-2
- Wisconsin 0-2
- Arizona 0-1
- Arizona State 0-1
- Arkansas 0-1
- Harvard 0-1
- Minnesota 0-1
- Missouri 0-1
- San Diego State 0-1
- Texas A&M 0-1
Team Scores Entering Friday Finals:
1. Virginia 210 2. Texas 128 3. Stanford 123 4. Alabama 120 5. NC State 99 6. Louisville 95 7. California 89 8. Ohio St 83 9. Michigan 66 10. Florida 62 11. Georgia 57 12. Tennessee 53 12. UNC 53 14. Wisconsin 34 14. Indiana 34 16. Miami (Florida) 27 16. Southern California 27 18. Duke 26 19. Missouri 24 19. Kentucky 24 21. Penn 20 22. Arizona St 19 23. Minnesota 17 24. Arizona 16 25. Northwestern 15 26. South Carolina 9 27. Arkansas 6 28. Lsu 4 28. UCLA 4 30. Notre Dame 3 31. Virginia Tech 2 32. Yale 1
